


My Soulmate

by IveGotRedHair



Category: All Time Low
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Coughing, Fever, M/M, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 15:17:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6615559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IveGotRedHair/pseuds/IveGotRedHair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Doctor, a patient and a timer that counts down till you're with your soulmate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Act 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys,  
> You may have noticed I have a love of the show Scrubs so this is a little take on that with a soulmate AU thrown in. Please don't take any of my medical stuff seriously it's mostly artistic license with a bit of google thrown in.  
> I hope you enjoy!

In a big hospital it was easy to forget things, normally they were tiny things like which bed a patient was in or whether it was taco day in the cafeteria. The thing that most people never forgot was their soulmate or at least that knowledge that they had one somewhere, the counting clocks on everyone’s wrists made it kind of hard to. Not that had stopped Alex, or rather Dr.Gaskarth, expect no one called him that yet, he was only an intern after all. No Alex barely noticed the timer ticking down on his wrist, he’d been so busy at the hospital and trying to keep on top of his textbooks that he had no idea the clock had got into the single digits some time ago. 

On the day Alex’s timer had gone from days to hours he was working, running about the hospital trying to stop various people from dying.   
“Gaskarth, Mrs Williams needs 50g of morphine stat and then Mr Mitchell needs an X-ray on his chest oh and finally I really need a coffee, no cream, two sugars, you know the drill.”   
“Yes Dr.Hellman,” Alex replied, scribbling down all his jobs.   
“Then get on with it.”  
Alex nodded and rushed off. It was pretty much the life of an intern to run about doing all the jobs than no one else wanted, Alex didn’t mind though, he was happy to learn even if it was with the likes of Dr.Hellman.   
He returned twenty minutes later, tasks all done and coffee still hot. Dr.Hellman took his drink and sipped it before speaking.   
“Not bad kid but I could have done it in fifteen,” he said.   
“Sorry Dr.”   
“Now I’ve got a real test for you, all that running around you’ve been doing has been easy up to now. You’re going to be doing some work in the clinic, see some patients, figure out what’s wrong with them, admit the ones that are sick and throw out the ones that aren’t. Got it?”   
Alex nodded nervously, he’d never had to do anything like that alone before.   
“Off you go then, they’re waiting for you Doctor.”   
Alex went off again, trying to keep himself calm as he thought about the job at hand, what’s the worst that could happen? Well he could miss something and send home the wrong person and they could die… No wonder Alex hadn’t noticed that his timer had only minutes left. 

“Miss Ramsey please,” Alex asked, trying to keep his voice from shaking.   
A young lady got up holding very tightly to her right arm, okay broken bones he could handle.   
“I’m Dr.Gaskarth, what seems to be the problem?” He asked once she’d stepped inside the exam room.   
“I woke up this morning to an incredible pain in my arm and I haven’t been able to move it since,” she explained.   
Alex did a short examination and it seemed she had dislocated her shoulder in her sleep, rare but possible. He send her off with some pain medication to specialist who could put it back for her. After his first patient Alex’s confidence grew a bit as he addressed his next appointment.   
“Mr Barakat?” God he hoped he’d said that right.   
A young man stood up, probably not much younger than Alex himself. He was tall, dark haired, with equally dark eyes.   
“Come in.”  
Alex lead the man into the room where he took a seat on the exam table, he was looking very pale and ill.   
“Hello, I’m Doctor Gaskarth, how can I help you?” Alex asked.   
“I had this cold and it just won’t go away,” the man explained before dissolving into a fit of coughs.   
“Do you mind if I just listen to your chest?” Alex asked, removing the stethoscope from around his neck.   
“Go ahead,” the man said, rolling up his shirt.   
Alex started by placing the cold metal on the man’s back and listening to him cough before doing the same on his chest, catching a glimpse on a Jack Skellington tattoo to one side.   
“Okay it sounds like there’s some liquid in your lungs, that’s nothing to be scared of, it’s probably just a severe case of bronchitis but I’d like to just take your temperature to make sure.”   
“Okay.”   
Alex removed a thermometer from it’s packaging and placed in the man’s mouth. It beeped a moment later and Alex frowned at the reading.   
“Something wrong?” Mr Barakat asked before coughing again.   
The man’s temperature was rather high, higher than normally associated with bronchitis which meant it could be pneumonia which was a whole lot worse and a lot more dangerous. Alex had a choice to make, let the man go and hope it just a high fever and would go down on it’s own or admit it him for observation.   
“It seems you’re running a very high fever and I’d like to keep you here for observation or until it comes down to less dangerous level,” Alex explained.   
“Oh.. Hmm, okay,” the man replied.   
“I’ll fill in the paperwork and let one of the nurses find you a bed.”   
“Thank you Doctor.”   
Alex lead Mr Barakat back out and left him one of the nurses and instructions on what meds to give him before going and picking up the next chart and starting all over again. 

After a total of nearly four hours and fifteen patients Alex was able to track a break, collapsing at one of the cafeteria tables opposite his friend Rian Dawson.   
“Long morning huh?” Rian asked, looking up from his mac ‘n’ cheese.   
“You could say that,” Alex replied.   
“I spend most of today holding the fat on one guy’s heart surgery…”   
Rian was a surgical intern and as much as Alex disliked some of the stuff he had to do at least there was it wasn’t as much blood.   
“I’m trying to eat here,” Alex said, taking a bit of his sandwich.   
It was only as Alex ate that he pushed down the sleeves of his scrubs, in an effort not to get them covered in tomato sauce that Rian noticed something.   
“Alex you’re flashing!”   
“What?” Alex asked, with a mouthful of food.   
“Your timmer, it’s flashing!”   
Alex looked at his left wrist and sure enough the clock on his wrist was flashing a little red light and the numbers had all reached zero.   
“Oh…” was all he could think to say.   
“Don’t look at me man, mine finished when I was 11,” Rian said.   
Some people like Rian met their soulmates early in life, he’d met Cassadee on holiday in California with his family nearly thirteen years ago and they’d been married for three.   
“But then who?” Alex asked.   
His eyes scanned the cafeteria trying to see if someone was having the same reaction as him but everyone was calm.   
“If might not have been now, if you didn’t notice it could have stopped hours ago,” Rian said.   
“Then how I suppose to find them?” Alex asked.   
“I don’t know, what have you done today? Maybe you can trace them,” Rian suggested.   
“Well I was running around patients for Dr.Hellman first thing then I’ve been in the clinic, I must have seen like twenty patients this morning,” Alex said.   
“Well you better get a move on then,” Rian said.   
“Aren’t you going to help?” Alex asked.   
“I can’t, I’ve got surgery all afternoon but good luck, I hope you find them.”   
“Thanks.”  
Alex took one last bite of his sandwich before running off again. Though Alex had never been overly bothered about his timer before he didn’t want to miss his chance, this was his soulmate after all, he didn’t want to lose them. 

Alex had gotten through five patients, all woman all with timers still counting, expect one old woman who spend ten minutes telling Alex about her husband when Dr.Hellman had caught up to him.   
“Didn’t I ask you to get Mr Miller’s tox results over half an about ago?” He asked.   
“I believe you did,” Alex replied.   
“Then where are they?” The Doctor asked, arms crossed over his chest.   
“Hmm…”   
“You better get on it then and when you’ve done that Miss Taylor in ward nine needs some blood taken and the patient in three b needs tests run for leukemia.”   
“Yes Doctor,” Alex replied.   
“There’s a good newbie,” he said before walking off to annoy some other intern.   
Alex sighed and began the walk down to the lab, it seemed his soulmate was destine to wait a bit longer. 

A bit longer ended up turning into the rest of the afternoon. Dr Hellman had Alex running all over the place, he barely had time to catch his breathe matter about check out his patients from earlier. His timer was still flashing a constant reminder that he’d missed his time. Alex just wanted to go back to his own bed and sleep, maybe for a week he didn’t care. He tried to think positive and that if his soulmate was out there that they’d meet again one day but he couldn’t help being doubtful. Alex was all for giving up and going home having just finished by the last of Dr.Hellman’s tasks when his beeper went off.   
Alex may have been working within the hospital for several months but the sound of his beeper going off always send his heart racing. It could mean a few things, Dr.Hellman needed him, he’d fucked up or someone was dying. He raced through the wards until he arrived at a patient's bed with a nurse standing there, it was the patient he’d admitted earlier with the high fever and bronchitis.   
“What’s the problem?” Alex asked the nurse.   
“His fever is spiking and he’s having difficulty breathing, the antibiotics don’t seem to be having any effect,” she explained.   
Alex bit his lip and looked at the man lying in the bed, he seemed worse than when he’d entered the hospital, the reverse of what was suppose to happen and Alex couldn't help being partly responsible. Trouble breathing was quite typical of bronchitis but such a high fever wasn’t there was more usually…   
“Pneumonia… Nurse he needs oxygen and fluids, motrin and a cold cloth to get that fever down.”   
“Yes Doctor.”   
The nurse left and Alex flicked through the patient's chart, trying to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. He found the man’s first name was Jack, he was twenty four years old and that he had a history of bronchitis and chest problems, making his pneumonia not only less of a surprise but a whole lot more dangerous.   
The nurse had returned with the oxygen and Alex placed the mask over Jack’s face, Alex noticed the obvious wheezing in Jack’s breathing and wondered how he could have missed it. If he’d just send Jack to get a chest x-ray maybe he wouldn’t be here with a dangerously high fever.   
It’s when Alex is placing the IV in Jack’s arm that he notices Jack’s timmer. It’s on all zeroes with the little red light flashing.   
“You’ve got to be kidding…”  
Alex looked back at his own wrist and the red light stopped blinking, the sign that he had indeed found his soulmate.   
“Well you better not die on me now,” Alex said, putting the cool cloth on Jack’s forehead.   
“Gaskarth, there you are, I was about to page you.”  
Dr Hellman appeared, arms crossed over his chest and looking unimpressed. Alex sighed and turned to face him.   
“What is it?” Alex asked, trying to hide his annoyance.   
“I need someone to go and disimpact Mr Evans and you drew the short straw.”  
Alex sighed and he’d had enough of being ordered around by Dr.Hellman, especially when he had his own patients to be telling with.   
“I’m sorry Doctor but you’ll have to find another intern, I’m a bit busy trying to save a patient with severe pneumonia,” Alex replied.   
Dr.Hellman looked like he was ready to tear him apart but instead he walked away. Alex knew he was going to pay for that later but he had bigger problems to deal with.   
Alex went back to Jack, checking on his IV and replacing the cloth on his forehead with a cold one. The oxygen seemed to be helping with breathing but if antibiotics weren’t helping that meant it was a viral and there was nothing they could but hope Jack fought it off.   
“Don’t die on me okay? You can’t die without me evening getting to know you.” 

At some point Alex’s shift ended but he never left Jack’s bedside. Rian came by after he’d finished his surgery, expressing his congratulations that Alex had found his soulmate and wishing him luck on the situation. When he finally left he said there’d be a cold one waiting for Alex whenever he got home, Alex thanked him and was left alone again.   
Jack had stayed steady most of the time, his fever stayed high but dropped a little but at one point Jack was having such trouble breathing Alex was sure he was going to lose him. But he didn’t, Jack fought it, he was stronger than he looked. As he stayed at Jack’s side Alex couldn’t help but wonder what he was like, apparently they were soulmates so they must have something in common, Alex just hoped he’d have the chance to find out.   
Alex was about to call it a night and go home, he was exhausted and he had to do the whole thing again the next day. Plus if the chief of medicine found him hanging around so long after his shift ended he’d be in even more trouble than he was with Dr.Hellman. He sighed and stood up, body aching from spending so long sat in one place. He took one last look at Jack, lying there with the oxygen mask helping him to breathe, the IV pumping him full of medicine and liquids. Alex just gave a weak smile and turned away but before he could walk off he heard coughing.   
He quickly turned around and saw Jack struggling to sit up as he coughed. Alex rushed back to his side and helped him remove the oxygen mask. It took a few more seconds but Jack finally stopped and accepted the drink Alex handed to him.   
“How are you feeling?” Alex asked.   
“Like shit, I thought being in hospital was supposed to make you feel better,” Jack complained, falling back against the pillows.   
“It seems you’re actually suffering from viral pneumonia which is something we can’t treat with drugs, so we’re just going to have to wait it out I’m afraid.”  
“Great,” Jack muttered.   
“I’m sorry, I know it sucks but we’ll have you back on your feet in no time,” Alex said, trying to sound positive.   
“I could really do with a drink..”   
“I’m afraid no alcohol until you’re out of here,” Alex said.   
Jack groaned and set off a new round of coughs and Alex had to try and hide his smile. When Jack finished and settled back against his pillows Alex was set to leave, he was exhausted from working all day and his shift had ended some time ago.   
“I’ll see you tomorrow then Jack, be good for the nurses,” Alex said.  
“Wait, you’re going?” Jack questioned, sounding disappointed  
“My shift is over, why is there something you needed?” Alex asked.   
“Nothing really, I just wouldn’t mind some company,” Jack said, avoiding Alex’s eye.   
Alex gave a small smile before sitting back down beside Jack’s bed.   
“I’m sure I can spare some time,” Alex replied.   
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”   
“No problem.”  
Alex knew how much trouble he’d been in if either Dr.Hellman or the chief of medicine caught him hanging about so long after hours but Jack wanted someone with him and if Alex liked to think of himself as anything it was a caring Doctor. 

 

Alex ended up staying in the hospital until Jack fell asleep again, just over an hour after he’d woken up. They’d talked about themselves, Alex had found out that Jack worked in a record store and that he loved music. Alex told him all about being a Doctor, the long hours, stressful times but most importantly how much he wanted to help people. All while they talked Alex never mentioned the fact that he thought Jack was his soulmate, he hadn’t even noticed his timmer had stopped counting but Alex figured he had bigger things to worry about, like getting better. 

Alex arrived early at the hospital the next morning, he was tired and had barely had time to eat before leaving his and Rian’s apartment. He felt a bit like a zombie as he changed into his scrubs and picked up his first patient's chart for the day but luckily for him that patient was Jack.   
“How’s my favourite invalid this morning?” Alex asked, standing at the end of Jack’s bed.   
“Oh fantastic,” Jack replied before coughing. “God that hurt.”   
“You’re having some chest discomfort?” Alex asked.   
Jack nodded.   
“Can I just have a listen?”   
“If you want,” Jack replied.   
Alex took the stethoscope from around his neck and placed the cool mental on Jack’s chest, listening at he coughed.   
“It doesn’t sound any worse but I’m going to give you something to try and ease the discomfort, is anything else bothering you?” Alex asked, scribbling something down in Jack’s notes.   
“That we didn’t get to finish our conversation last night,” Jack said with a small smile.   
“Well I’ll have to see what I can do about that but maybe later, I’ll be back to check on you in a bit,” Alex said before smiling and walking away.   
He was still smiling when he nearly walked into Dr.Hellman.   
“Oh sorry Doctor, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” Alex apologized.   
“Obviously, did you check on those patients I gave you?” He asked.   
“I’m just on my way there now,” Alex said.   
“Good, I’ll join you.”  
Alex tried to muster the strength not to groan, he knew he needed to learn and the best way to do that was with another Doctor but he hated the way Dr.Hellman followed him around, telling him off about every tiny little thing, never once saying job well done.   
“Gaskarth you call that an IV? My grandmother could do better and she was cremated.”  
“Sorry Doctor,” Alex grumbled, going to take the IV out but his hand was swatted away.   
“Go and take a break, it’s not like you’re being any use here,” Dr.Hellman snapped.   
Alex sighed and walked off, he couldn’t seem to get anything right and every time Dr.Hellman was on his back, snapping at him and as much as he tried to ignore it, it got to Alex eventually. 

He was on his way to get something to eat when he passed Jack’s ward, he was sat up in bed, talking to Cass, Rian’s wife and he was laughing. Alex couldn’t but smile, it was the first time he’d seen Jack laugh and it was perfect. He ended up deciding against lunch and went over to Jack instead.   
“Hey if it isn’t my favourite Doctor,” Jack greeted him.   
“Hi Jack,” Alex replied, slumping down in the chair beside his bed.   
“Rough morning huh?” Jack asked.   
“You could say that…”   
“Well if it makes you feel better the stuff you gave me earlier really helped, my chest feels better,” Jack said right before coughing.   
“That’s good and how’s your fever doing?” Alex asked.   
“That pretty nurse said it was still at 103 but it hasn’t gone up today,” Jack replied.   
“Oh you mean nurse Dawson? Cassadee?”   
“Yeah I think that’s what she said her name was.”  
“She’s my roommate’s wife,” Alex said.   
“You’ve got one lucky roommate,” Jack chuckled and coughed again.   
Alex laughed too, he could feel the weight of the morning begin to lift as he said with Jack, like nothing else mattered when he was around. He was about to continue their conversation when his pager went off, he was needed somewhere.   
“Well I better go, I’ll be back later to check on you,” Alex said, standing up.   
“You better,” Jack teased.   
Alex smiled again before rushing off. He was beginning to really like Jack, despite how obviously ill he was he seemed to be great spirits and always had a smile and a joke for Alex every time he passed. It didn’t take long before checking on Jack became the favourite part of Alex’s day. 

On Jack’s fourth day in the hospital and he’s asleep when Alex comes to check on him, all curled up under the blanket kind of like a cat. Alex smiles and takes Jack’s temperature, it’s gone down a bit but still not enough to let Jack go home, plus one of the nurses said Jack had been awake most of the night with his cough and only really getting to sleep as the sun came up. Alex was just about to leave when he saw Jack’s eyes open.   
“Good morning sleepy head,” Alex greeted him.   
Jack groaned and coughed into the pillow.   
“Is it really?” He replied.   
“Well your fevers done a bit so you’re slowly on your way out of here,” Alex said.   
Jack smiled sleepily and pulled his blankets up to his shoulders.   
“Can I go back to sleep now?” Jack asked.   
“Course, sleep is good for sick people you know.”   
“And they call you a Doctor..” Jack muttered, closing his eyes.   
Alex smiled and pulled the edge of the blanket back over Jack’s shoulder, resisting the temptation to kiss his check on the way out. 

As the day went on Alex tried to ignore the feeling bubbling up inside. He’d never been in love before, in a world of soulmates and timers not a lot of dating went on so before Jack Alex had never looked at anyone twice. Now he could feel that, something like standing on the edge of a cliff and the butterflies in his stomach before he dove off. He tried to keep his smile hidden from Dr.Hellman, he didn’t want to give him any more ammunition to use against him. Dr.Hellman has been particularly hard on Alex ever since the incident where Alex told him to back off, so Alex was trying to keep his head down as much as possible. He has to sneak off to see Jack during lunch just to make sure the older Doctor wasn’t following him. 

He found Jack sat up in bed, leaning against his pillows with his headphones in. Alex smiled at the sight, wondering what Jack could be listening to. Upon seeing Alex standing there Jack removed them and smiled.   
“Someone appears to be a good mood,” Alex said.   
“Well my favourite Doctor has arrived,” Jack replied.   
“And how’s my favourite patient doing?” Alex asked, trying to hide his blush.   
“Not too bad, actually there was something I wanted to ask you…” Jack said before going into a coughing fit.   
“What’s that?” Alex asked as he passed Jack some water.   
“This morning I noticed this.”  
Jack rolled up his sleeve and just like Alex’s the timer had stopped, all the numbers on zero but the red light wasn’t flashing. Alex’s heart began to hammer against his chest.   
“It’s not flashing.. That means you’ve met them,” Alex said, stumped for anything better.   
“Then obviously we’re as blind as each other and that’s where you come in… I wondered if you’d talk to a couple of the nurses for me, see if any of their things have reached zero.”   
Alex had to pretend like his heart hadn’t just fallen to his stomach, Jack thought his soulmate was a girl…   
“Yeah, yeah sure I can,” he said, trying to stop his voice from shaking.   
“Are you okay? You’ve gone nearly as pale as me,” Jack asked.   
“Yeah I’m fine, I’ve just remembered something I’d got to do,” Alex said before walking away.   
He got all the way to the other side of the hospital before going into a storage cupboard, one of the few places he could actually be alone. He tried not to cry, tried not to let Jack’s words get to him but failed. If Jack truly thought his soulmate was a girl then what was he going to do when he found out his was Alex? And would Alex ever actually tell him?


	2. Act 2

The rest of the day passed pretty much the same, Alex doing what he was asked but lacking in his usual upbeat manor. Dr.Hellman never asked which Alex was thankful for, he didn’t exactly feel like explaining. He went the whole day without seeing Jack again, even when Cass found him and said Jack had been asking after him. Alex didn’t feel like facing him again, at least not yet. He just told her to page him if anything changed.   
Alex managed to get home from the hospital at a reasonable time and had fallen asleep on the couch. Rian had put a blanket over him and left him to sleep, being intern meaning getting a sleep whenever and wherever you could so a couch would do.   
Alex had just got to the good part of his dream where he was about to save a patient's life when he was woken up, annoying beeping was coming from across the room. He opened his eyes to see the clock next to the tv said it was 3am, so what the hell was the noise? As he sat up Alex saw it, his pager was on the coffee table and it was flashing.   
“Shit,” he muttered, picking it up.   
The message simply read patient emergency, Alex didn’t exactly have many patient of his own and only one was in any real danger of emergency…. Jack. 

Alex was at the hospital in record time, racing through the wards until he reached Jack’s bed. He was lying in the middle of the bed, wires and tubes all over the place pumping full of liquids and medicine. He was wearing an oxygen mask again as he his chest struggled to get enough air into his lungs.   
“Doctor?”   
Alex turned to see a nurse standing beside him, he didn’t know her name but had seen her around the hospital often enough.   
“What happened?” Alex asked.   
“He was doing really well then all of sudden he just crashed, his fever spiked and he stopped breathing. They managed to get it going again but he’s been on oxygen ever since, it was almost like he’d given up fighting,” she said.   
Alex acted like the words hadn’t just dug a little hole in his heart. He then thanked the nurse and said he’d take over from here, she gave him a sweet smile and left.   
Alex took up his usual seat next to Jack’s bed, his hand reaching out for Jack’s warm one. He couldn’t help feeling guilty, if he’d just put his stupid feelings out of the way and watched over Jack like he was supposed to than maybe he wouldn’t be in this mess now. What a great Doctor he made… Rule one: don’t get attached to your patients. Alex just sighed and looked at the timer on his wrist, so much for that thing, it was meant to stop you from getting hurt by showing you who your true soulmate was. No one ever said they could be the one that hurts you. 

When Jack woke up the sun was bleeding through the faded curtains, he blinked a few times before trying to take a deep breath. Bad move, it triggered a coughing fit but the oxygen mask still covering his face helped some. He didn’t remember anything of the night before, at some point everything has just become a feverish blur and he’d fallen unconscious. He tried to move but wires tied him down and there was something else, something warm next to his hand, it was a struggle to see around his mask but it was Alex. The Doctor had fallen asleep in the chair next to his bed, his hand still next to Jack’s. He smiled and moved his hand just enough to touch Alex’s, it felt cool to Jack’s fevered skin but very much alive. He didn’t know what it was but he’d felt a connection to Alex ever since he’d meet him, at first he just assumed it was because he was a good Doctor but now he wondered if it was something else..   
“Jack?”   
He felt someone squeeze his hands and looked over to see Alex had woken up too, his dark eyes staring at him.   
“I’m going to remove your mask for a moment, I’m sorry it’ll probably make you cough,” Alex said, standing up.   
Alex was right it did make Jack cough when he no longer had the oxygen but it didn’t last too long.   
“Sorry about that, I just wanted to ask how you were feeling?” Alex asked.   
“Better, don’t feel like I’m dying now,” Jack replied.   
“Good, hopefully you’re over the worst of it now. I’m going to take your temperature and see where we go from there.”   
As Alex started doing his normal checks Jack noticed he wasn’t wearing his scrubs, in fact he was wearing jeans a t shirt, his hair was also messy and he hadn’t shaved. Had he been here all night? Surely not, he was a Doctor he had better things to do than sit with one of his patients all night. Jack was about to ask when Alex put a thermometer in his mouth.   
“101, it’s gone down a lot. We might even be able to get you out of here soon,” Alex said, smiling.   
“You mean I could actually go home?” Jack asked.   
“Well as great as you are we don’t want you here forever,” Alex joked, trying not to blush.   
Jack gave a small laugh, his first in a long time that hadn’t caused him to cough out his lungs. 

 

Over the next few days Alex put his feelings aside and tried to be professional. He still visited Jack every day, checking his vitals, giving him medicine and talking to him. Jack told him all about growing up the youngest of three, being a mischief in high school and all the trouble he got into, he spoke all about his love of music, Alex loved seeing the passion in his eyes.   
Jack hadn’t mentioned the timer thing since which Alex was thankful for, he was trying not to think about it. His plan was to get on with work and try and forget about the whole soulmate thing, it was not going to work so he was trying to over it. He’d never heard of soulmates not working before but hey there was a first time for everything, typical of it be him though. He was just going to have to let him go and get used to the idea that he’d be alone but hell he was Doctor, he’d just bury himself in work.   
By Jack’s 15th day in the hospital he was going stir crazy and Alex was putting off letting him go, he knew that he’d improved and he was perfectly able to go home but Alex knew that the moment he walked out of that door Alex may never see him again and he wasn’t ready for that.  
“Can I go home yet?” Jack whined.   
Alex chuckled and looked at the charts in his hands, Jack’s temperature was down, his breathing was better, there was no reason he wouldn’t be fine on his own.   
“Yes, I should think so.”   
Alex smiled despite how much it hurt, he couldn’t help it when he saw Jack’s eyes light up and the thought of going home.   
“I’ll get the paperwork and you’ll be out of here in time for dinner,” Alex said, forcing a smile.   
“Really?”   
“Yes Jack, you can do home.”   
Jack did something Alex hadn’t expected and grabbed his arm, pulling him over to the bed before giving him a hug.   
“You’re the best Doctor in the world,” Jack beamed.   
“Thanks,” Alex replied, hugging him back.   
“Thank you for always being there, I was really scared about coming to the hospital but then I met you.”   
Alex tried not to let his emotions get the better of him as he pulled back.   
“Okay well I’ll get this sorted for you,” Alex said before leaving, not trusting himself the room a moment longer. 

Alex stayed true to his word, it was just getting dark and Jack was stood at the reception desk signing his release papers. He was backing wearing his normal clothes, his hair was sticking up on end, he looked good.   
“Thank you again Doctor,” Jack said.   
“Call me Alex.”   
“Thanks than Alex,” he smiled, holding out his hand.   
Alex shook it and tried to find the words to say goodbye.   
“Remember to stay away from the alcohol for awhile ‘cause I don’t want to see you here again,” Alex said, smiling.   
“I’ll do my best,” Jack replied.   
Then there it was the goodbye, Jack waved, turned his back and walked away.   
“What do you think you’re doing?”   
Alex turned around to see Rian standing behind him.   
“What do you mean?” Alex asked.   
“You’re just going to let him go? Just because you’re scared? Let me tell you a story, when my timer reached zero and I saw Cass I was terrified. She was so beautiful and I didn’t know it was her, God I hoped it was but you have to take that risk. You’ve got to go after him, you can’t let the one you’re supposed to be with just walk away.”   
“But what if…”  
“Alex, just go, if you don’t it’ll be too late.”   
Alex wanted to argue but as usual Rian was right, the person that he cared about was getting further and further away and it was time not be scared anymore.   
No one had ever run out of a hospital so fast as Alex in that moment, he tore down the street looking for the one person he should never have let slip through his fingers.   
“Jack! Jack wait!”   
“Alex?”  
Alex came to stop next to Jack, they were over a block from the hospital and standing under a streetlight.   
“I’m sorry I just really needed to talk to you,” Alex panted.   
“Is something wrong?” Jack asked.   
“I don’t really know how to say this... But you’re… We’re… soulmates and I’m sorry that I never told you but you were talking about all these girls and I was scared… I was scared you wouldn’t want ...me.”   
Alex had imagined many ways the conversion could go, most of them ending in Jack yelling at him and saying how that could never be true. He never thought Jack would take his hand, lean in and kiss him. It only took a few seconds for Alex to kiss back, his hands around Jack’s waist and Jack’s going up to his neck. As they kissed it felt like the world had stopped and everything had fallen into place and as they stood there the timers on their wrists began to fade. It was a known fact that once soulmates had made that connection than their timers were no longer needed and they faded to nothing as if proof that they really had found each other.   
Jack was the one to eventually pull away, he looked down at his wrist as if to check that the timer was really gone.   
“It’s true…”   
“I’m sorry Jack I know I wasn’t what you were expecting but I hope we can make this work,” Alex said.   
“I’m the one that should be sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel like that. You weren’t the only one that was scared of their feelings... “ Jack admitted.   
“So you think we can do this?” Alex questioned.   
“I do.”   
“I do too.”   
They kissed again, this time it was Alex who made the first move as their lips touched for a second time it felt even better than the first. The knowledge of having a soulmate in the world didn’t make it easy, there would always be problems, fights and misunderstanding but in the end they come back together in the end, they are soulmates after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi again,  
> I'm sorry I have't uploaded in so long I've been busy with a big non fiction thing I've been writing but I hope to get some other things out in the future.  
> As always thanks for reading :) xx


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